Have you ever heard of a time when a manufacturer offered to buy back a certain model — and not because of any sort of safety or equipment recall, but because of an advertising discrepancy? As it turns out, that’s what happened 25 years ago when Mazda announced a voluntary buyback of 2001-model-year MX-5 Miatas.

Here’s the crux of the matter: The Japanese-market Miatas for 2001 (classified by the “NB1” chassis code) had 155 horsepower, and they were advertised as having the same in the United States. However, due to revised tuning for U.S. emissions standards, the car actually only made 142 horsepower, up from the rating of 140 in model year 2000.

As seen in Automobile in June 2001:

The problem came to light because some of the marketing materials had already gone live, and independent car magazines had found the car to be about a half-second slower to 60 mph than anticipated. I managed to track down a scan of the 2001 brochure, and the (lower) rating is shown there, so Mazda either caught it in time for printing or produced a new/updated version entirely.

Mazda owned its error and offered to buy back the roughly 3,500 vehicles that had already been sold at the $22,000-or-so sticker price. Owners who kept their cars received a $500 debit card and a certificate for free maintenance for the three-year warranty period.

Even with a 13-horsepower deficit, the new MX-5 wasn’t a total performance dud. After all, it did still have 125 lb-ft of torque when compared to the outgoing car’s 119. Mazda said it was a noticeable upgrade. And based on the fact that apparently 19 out of 20 Miata owners kept their vehicle instead of returning it, the discrepancy didn’t seem to matter to most people.